Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

How long will all these technologies last?

USB: Been around only since 1999. Two jack styles, and one speed
change. On every computer at the moment, but for how long? And how
many of your old device drivers still work, given that operating
systems change so rapidly?

Ethernet: has been here for, what, 10 years? I don't mean in the lab,
I mean in general use. Built-in on Macs since 1993, but the first Mac
to have an RJ-45 style jack was 1996ish. (We still had some leftover
token ring going on in my office as recently as four years ago.)
Anyway, in 10 years, there have been three major changes to ethernet
speed (10Base-t, 100Base-t, 1000Base-t). They're all compatible with
each other, but the faster ones need high-speed cables. Plus, it's
being replaced by various types of fiber.

MIDI: Since 1982, unchanged, exists on almost every synthesizer in
existence for 25 years, and there are MIDI interfaces for every
computer ever made (plus, the MIDI interface makers will be
responsible for device drivers for new computers, not Paul). It's
popular now to say how the old MIDI stinks and we need something new
and better, but we all still use it every day, for everything. A
handful of synths now support USB, but -every- synth supports MIDI.
In music, MIDI is universal.

I vote for MIDI. It's the most likely to be still in existence in 5
or 10 years, and if by some miracle there's ever a MIDI 2, it will
most likely be compatible with the current MIDI. Long term, I would
think the best chance for continued use would be with MIDI.


Seth